Head Chef Rolando Robledo, right, and assistant chef Joseph Pellegrino help prepare for the day in the commissary kitchen at Clover Food Lab's Cambridge Street location. Clover’s food is locally sourced, organic, vegetarian and made from scratch. David DelPoio for USA TODAY

Loaves of freshly baked seitan made daily in the commissary kitchen at Clover. Seitan is made fromgluten, the main protein ofwheat, has a meat-like consistency and is a staple in many vegetarian dishes. David DelPoio for USA TODAY

Clover's owners say that because they serve so many customers a day, they can use expensive ingredients but not charge very much because their volume is so high. Their menu, which changes every day, is on a big flatscreen TV, and whenever they run out of any items, those items are automatically deleted from the menu. David DelPoio for USA TODAY

Clover Food Labs staff at the Harvard Square location.To accommodate new seasonal vegetables and the fluctuating supplies of local farms, Clover’s menu, which has nine lunch items and about as many items for breakfast, plus drinks and a kids menu, changes just about every day. Dinner is the same as lunch.The most popular items, such as the chickpea fritter sandwich, stick around, but other dishes will come and go. David DelPoio for USA TODAY

Founder and CEO of Clover Food Labs, Ayr Muir chats with a customer at the Harvard Square location. Muir says 90% of his customers are non-vegetarian. Many still ask if something’s got meat in it after being regulars for months.The meatlessness doesn’t bother Clover regular Troy Schuler, 26, who says he eats there around five times a week. “If anything, it’s a good way to keep my weekday diet meat free,” he says. David DelPoio for USA TODAY

The original mobile truck for Clover Food Labs serves customers near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus. While the efficiency of Clover’s point-of-sale system is built on technology, the food-making speed strategy is less high-tech.
“There’s nothing revolutionary or very advanced. Everything is just very simple,” says Rolando Robledo, Clover’s head chef.
David DelPoio for USA TODAY